Inca Empire Learning Path

Etymology of Tawantinsuyu and Inca

Tawantinsuyu was the name the Incas used for their empire, meaning “the suyu (regions/parts) of four (parts).” In Quechua, tawa means “four,” and -ntin is a suffix indicating a group, so tawantin refers to a collective of four things. The empire was organized into four main suyu whose corners met at the capital, Cusco: Chinchaysuyu (north), Antisuyu (east, associated with the Amazon jungle), Qullasuyu (south), and Kuntisuyu (west). Thus, Tawantinsuyu functioned as a descriptive term for a union of provinces.

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Inca Empire overview and extent

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